Brand

lululemon

The ask

Build legitimacy in one of the highest participating running events in the world.

Won the NYC marathon without official brand sponsorship.

Strategy

Superbowl. Olympics. NYC Marathon. If you’re not an official sponsor at global-caliber events, you can’t advertise at it, or around it. So how do you show up to the party that you’re not invited to? You invite people to yours. And do it in a way that embodies your brand ethos. For lululemon, that’s community. 

  • Strategy
  • Brand Campaign
  • Advertising

Solution

We created an experience to help runners prepare for the big day, and build a better running community along the way. Through a first-of-its-kind partnership with the definitive digital activity tracker — Strava — we developed a digital-first app where runners earned points for running together, and redeemed points for pro level recovery experiences at the SoHo brand house. The micro-marathon creating re:pair challenge was born. It’s been replicated globally at marathons ever since.

  • Interactive
  • Experiential
  • 2D Motion Design
  • Meta Suite Social Media
  • Print

Making the connection

Leveraging Strava’s Open API, we created a metric that rewarded people for running with as many people as possible. A community building functionality that previously didn’t exist.

Offline and online integration

The GFC-designed SoHo brand house became the place where people could exchange digital re:pair points for in-person recovery experiences. From the re:pair lab, lululemon gifted custom running gear and hosted community events.

Impact

Although not an official partner of the NYC Marathon, lululemon became Runner’s World #1 destination to visit before and after the race.

#1

Runners World Destination

71%

Strava Participation

3.3k

Reward Redemptions

Scroll

All projects